L. Kerpelman, who led school prayer case, dies at 88

Leonard J. Kerpelman, a Baltimore lawyer and gadfly who successfully argued a landmark Supreme Court case in 1963 that led to a ban on state-supported prayer in public schools, died on Sept. 26 in Baltimore. He was 88.

Mr. Kerpelman, who once proudly referred to himself as “a pariah to the Establishment,” blended a legal career with a commitment to causes, including historical preservation, environmental activism, government transparency and the rights of divorced fathers.